Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Las Vegas PumpkinMan
I had planned this Vegas trip back in August, and thought it would be a fun trip to take as many friends and T3TRI elite boys as possible. In the end I had five boys and three friends that made the trip to come race with me. I picked this course because I thought it would be a great way to gauge my triathlon fitness on a course very similar to what I'll face in May at the St George Ironman.
I took off to Thursday, a day before everyone else. I wanted to to go ride part of the course Friday, and not have to drive 5 plus hours on my birthday or the day before a half Ironman distance. It was a good move in the end, because I got to experience first hand how punishing the last six miles of the bike course were; straight mean!
I met all my peeps around 4PM on Friday at packet pick-up. This is where I started and ended my ride earlier. It was perfect timing because I had been in line for only 5 minutes when they showed up. We got our timing chips, race numbers, and got body marked. We also set up our T2 (bike to run transition). The start of this race (swim to bike) is around six miles away and downhill from T2/ finishline.
We went back to the condo to drop off Chris, Ammiee, and Amy's stuff and then went out to the Claim Jumper for carb loading dinner. It hit the spot but was a bit late for a pre race meal. Chris was awesome and picked up the tab being it my birthday and all. What a cool gift for a great friend. I had a little anxiety at dinner thinking of the race and what I need to do to get ready. I quickly got that out of my head and told myself that this is just for fun.
Race morning always seems too early 0430. I downed an insure, half a banana, and half of some organic bar the gave us in our race bag. I also must have tried to use the damn bathroom 5 times before we left to no avail. I'm a big believer in a good bathroom stop before the race start.
We pulled into the Lake Mead boat ramp parking lot. Right away I was looking for a non crowded bathroom. I went and set up my T1 transition. Amy made the comment that everyone up in the long course section of the transition, where I was, were just like me; type red personality and OCD. As we walked back down transition towards the water, where the olympic and sprint transitions were, they had music playing and people were loose and Amy said "these are my kind of people". I said you have me all wrong, I'm not like the people up there, I'm like these kind of peeps!
I finally found a bathroom and had a great experience there. I went back up to the car to get my Elite boys all set up and to wish them well and then headed to the start. I got in the water and swam about 20 meters out and back., The water was fine! Very clear and perfect temp. Right before we were to start some race lady come over with her megaphone and shout out swim directions that were completely opposite of what we all thought we were doing. Everyone was confused. Some guy came over and took over and tried to clear things up. It was very unclear to me and I moved back a bit and figured I'd just follow. Thirty three minutes later I was out of the water and making my way up to my bike, about 1/4 of a mile up the boat ramp! It felt like a long ways away. Off to the bike.
The bike… the bike was tough. Thanks to my ride the day before I knew that a six mile hill was coming up a mile 50. So, I held back a little throughout the bike ride. I felt really good the entire ride except for my lower back. I've been playing with my bike position for the last month and hadn't been on the bike enough to get used to the new position. I now think it's a great position, I just need to work on core, lower back, and flexibility. Off to the run
I had a fast transition and felt great for the first two miles (sub 7 pace). I caught to halfer's at mile three and ran with them until mile 7.5. At which point I got dropped.
My stomach was pissed! I now think that I consumed too many calories on the bike. I committed a cardinal sin, and was trying something I had never used before on race day; EFS. The EFS went down smooth but was hard to gauge how much I had poured into my water bottle and hence hard to tell how much I was consuming. I'm guessing that I took in between 800-1200 calories in the 3:10 ride. I really only needed 750 and as soon as I tried to take calories on the run I figured that one out. I had rough miles between 8-10.5 but got it back for the last two miles. I lost 4 minutes on the two guys I was running with at the 8 mile mark. finish
I was way happy with my race and how my Elite boys did. It was also a great bench mark for my up coming training for St George IM. It was now time to party!!
Thanks to Chris and Amy for all the great photos
I met all my peeps around 4PM on Friday at packet pick-up. This is where I started and ended my ride earlier. It was perfect timing because I had been in line for only 5 minutes when they showed up. We got our timing chips, race numbers, and got body marked. We also set up our T2 (bike to run transition). The start of this race (swim to bike) is around six miles away and downhill from T2/ finishline.
We went back to the condo to drop off Chris, Ammiee, and Amy's stuff and then went out to the Claim Jumper for carb loading dinner. It hit the spot but was a bit late for a pre race meal. Chris was awesome and picked up the tab being it my birthday and all. What a cool gift for a great friend. I had a little anxiety at dinner thinking of the race and what I need to do to get ready. I quickly got that out of my head and told myself that this is just for fun.
Race morning always seems too early 0430. I downed an insure, half a banana, and half of some organic bar the gave us in our race bag. I also must have tried to use the damn bathroom 5 times before we left to no avail. I'm a big believer in a good bathroom stop before the race start.
I finally found a bathroom and had a great experience there. I went back up to the car to get my Elite boys all set up and to wish them well and then headed to the start. I got in the water and swam about 20 meters out and back., The water was fine! Very clear and perfect temp. Right before we were to start some race lady come over with her megaphone and shout out swim directions that were completely opposite of what we all thought we were doing. Everyone was confused. Some guy came over and took over and tried to clear things up. It was very unclear to me and I moved back a bit and figured I'd just follow. Thirty three minutes later I was out of the water and making my way up to my bike, about 1/4 of a mile up the boat ramp! It felt like a long ways away. Off to the bike.
My stomach was pissed! I now think that I consumed too many calories on the bike. I committed a cardinal sin, and was trying something I had never used before on race day; EFS. The EFS went down smooth but was hard to gauge how much I had poured into my water bottle and hence hard to tell how much I was consuming. I'm guessing that I took in between 800-1200 calories in the 3:10 ride. I really only needed 750 and as soon as I tried to take calories on the run I figured that one out. I had rough miles between 8-10.5 but got it back for the last two miles. I lost 4 minutes on the two guys I was running with at the 8 mile mark. finish
I was way happy with my race and how my Elite boys did. It was also a great bench mark for my up coming training for St George IM. It was now time to party!!
Thanks to Chris and Amy for all the great photos
Monday, October 4, 2010
St George Outing
What a fun trip to St george this last weekend. We ended up renting a house for the weekend, which was the best idea ever! Thanks Amy. We had our friends Pedro and Carol join us too.
We got down there Friday at 5ish. Pedro and Carol were 15 minutes behind. We got all settled and headed over to the Expo to pick up our race packets. This was my 5th trip down the registration isle.
I really had no expectations going into this race. My thought was that I hadn't done any speed work and all my training has been based on my A race, the Wasatch 100, three weeks previous. I really took a week off after the Wasatch. This turned out to be a great thing as my legs were well rested.
Pedro and I took off around 4:45AM in route to catch a bus. 26.2 miles later we we're dropped off. Right when I stepped of the bus I knew it was way warmer than I remembered it being in years past. I race here back in 2008 and it rained almost the entire time… from start to finish! We made our way passed all the fire pits and to the second to last row of shitters and waited in line. I focused and told myself that I really needed to unload here or I'd be hating it somewhere along the run. Pedro had to pee bad enough, that he ran in into the bushes. He came back while I was still about five back in line. Pedro hung out with me and decided he better give the shitter a shot too. We both got lucky!
We hung out at the fire pits for a bit before dropping off our drop bags. Pedro took notice that they had a Guatemalan flag, I asked him if he had put Guatemala on the registration form. He did and I replied, "The flag is for you then". We squeezed or way into small space in between the 3:30 and 3:40 pacers. Pedro thought it was too close but I assured that he would be fine.
The gun goes off and I start to make my way to the left to pass on the gravel. I had decided to just go as hard as I could comfortably go for 26.2. I didn't wear my Garmin and didn't even start my watch. Classic Shaun on race day. I did look at the time when I passed the starting line, 6:52AM. As I passed the first mile marker I did a speed check and I knew it was around an 8 minute mile. I got out of traffic around the two mile marker and settled into a pace. I guessed I was around a 7:30 mile. I felt really good. Coming into Veyo I hit the 3:10 pacer and his big following… Wow!! I passed them as soon as I could, Didn't really like that group for some reason. They caught me going half way up the Veyo hill. I suck at hills apparently. This has been a theme at my last few marathons. I pass going down and get passed going up. Hill work…
At the top of the hill I ran into Jason Garlick and asked him how he was doing and what he was going for. He said he was trying to qualify for Boston and needed a 3:14 and then asked the same of me. I said I had no idea and that I was planning on a 3:20- 3:30. I ran with Jason through aid station at mile 11 and then left him behind along with the 3:10 pacer. I came across the 13.1 at 1:34. I was really happy about that and told myself "lets try and negative split this" I ran into Dre and her friend right out of the 13.1 aid station and said HI.
At mile 22 I had a little twinge in both my quads on the outside. I thought they better not cramp. I drank water and Gatorade at all the aid stations and made sure to keep up on that. I pounded my last of 3 Gu's and went for it. I ran the last 3.2 miles pretty hard… I'm guessing 19:55 for the last 3.
I came across the finishline at 3:05:23. I was way happy to be done and to have pushed it as hard as I did. I meet up with my awesome cheering section and waited to Cheer Pedro through. I felt bad as the day really started to heat up and knowing that there were a lot of runners out there.
Pedro came through around 4:35 for his first marathon. Awesome! We all headed home. Pedro BBQ'd as I passed out on the couch out in the patio. Thanks Pedro. We had a great lunch and headed out to Sand Hollow to swim and enjoy the beach there. That was perfect for recovery and an awesome time. Needless to say I slept well that night.
We took our time getting up and out of there Sunday as we had no check out time. We rolled into Orem around 7:15PM. Mercedes and Ryan were so awesome and brought us over some yummy Dinner. I'm so blessed to have such an awesome daughter and son in-law. What an awesome weekend!
We got down there Friday at 5ish. Pedro and Carol were 15 minutes behind. We got all settled and headed over to the Expo to pick up our race packets. This was my 5th trip down the registration isle.
I really had no expectations going into this race. My thought was that I hadn't done any speed work and all my training has been based on my A race, the Wasatch 100, three weeks previous. I really took a week off after the Wasatch. This turned out to be a great thing as my legs were well rested.
Pedro and I took off around 4:45AM in route to catch a bus. 26.2 miles later we we're dropped off. Right when I stepped of the bus I knew it was way warmer than I remembered it being in years past. I race here back in 2008 and it rained almost the entire time… from start to finish! We made our way passed all the fire pits and to the second to last row of shitters and waited in line. I focused and told myself that I really needed to unload here or I'd be hating it somewhere along the run. Pedro had to pee bad enough, that he ran in into the bushes. He came back while I was still about five back in line. Pedro hung out with me and decided he better give the shitter a shot too. We both got lucky!
We hung out at the fire pits for a bit before dropping off our drop bags. Pedro took notice that they had a Guatemalan flag, I asked him if he had put Guatemala on the registration form. He did and I replied, "The flag is for you then". We squeezed or way into small space in between the 3:30 and 3:40 pacers. Pedro thought it was too close but I assured that he would be fine.
The gun goes off and I start to make my way to the left to pass on the gravel. I had decided to just go as hard as I could comfortably go for 26.2. I didn't wear my Garmin and didn't even start my watch. Classic Shaun on race day. I did look at the time when I passed the starting line, 6:52AM. As I passed the first mile marker I did a speed check and I knew it was around an 8 minute mile. I got out of traffic around the two mile marker and settled into a pace. I guessed I was around a 7:30 mile. I felt really good. Coming into Veyo I hit the 3:10 pacer and his big following… Wow!! I passed them as soon as I could, Didn't really like that group for some reason. They caught me going half way up the Veyo hill. I suck at hills apparently. This has been a theme at my last few marathons. I pass going down and get passed going up. Hill work…
At the top of the hill I ran into Jason Garlick and asked him how he was doing and what he was going for. He said he was trying to qualify for Boston and needed a 3:14 and then asked the same of me. I said I had no idea and that I was planning on a 3:20- 3:30. I ran with Jason through aid station at mile 11 and then left him behind along with the 3:10 pacer. I came across the 13.1 at 1:34. I was really happy about that and told myself "lets try and negative split this" I ran into Dre and her friend right out of the 13.1 aid station and said HI.
At mile 22 I had a little twinge in both my quads on the outside. I thought they better not cramp. I drank water and Gatorade at all the aid stations and made sure to keep up on that. I pounded my last of 3 Gu's and went for it. I ran the last 3.2 miles pretty hard… I'm guessing 19:55 for the last 3.
I came across the finishline at 3:05:23. I was way happy to be done and to have pushed it as hard as I did. I meet up with my awesome cheering section and waited to Cheer Pedro through. I felt bad as the day really started to heat up and knowing that there were a lot of runners out there.
Pedro came through around 4:35 for his first marathon. Awesome! We all headed home. Pedro BBQ'd as I passed out on the couch out in the patio. Thanks Pedro. We had a great lunch and headed out to Sand Hollow to swim and enjoy the beach there. That was perfect for recovery and an awesome time. Needless to say I slept well that night.
We took our time getting up and out of there Sunday as we had no check out time. We rolled into Orem around 7:15PM. Mercedes and Ryan were so awesome and brought us over some yummy Dinner. I'm so blessed to have such an awesome daughter and son in-law. What an awesome weekend!
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